PITTSBURGH -- For his first start with the Pirates, Edinson Volquez beat Adam Wainwright. Authentic Tomas Nosek Jersey . Thatll do nicely as an early return on that off-season contract he signed with the Pirates. Tony Sanchez hit a tiebreaking RBI double in the seventh inning and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 on Sunday. Singed to a one-year, $5 million contract as a free agent in December, Volquez was sharp in his first start for the Pirates as he gave up one run and three hits in 5 2-3 innings with one walk and four strikeouts. That came after Volquez pitched two scoreless innings of relief Thursday against the Chicago Cubs. "What you saw was fastball command with downhill angle, big-time spin and tilt on the breaking ball, a good changeup and getting ahead with good pitches," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "He pitched a gem." Volquez got a standing ovation when he walked off the mound. "I think I did a great job and the fans appreciated what I did," Volquez said. "I just wanted to keep making another good pitch, keep the ball down and get them to hit the ball on the ground. All my pitches were there." Sanchezs double to deep centre field with two outs came off Wainwright (1-1) and snapped a 1-1 tie. "Im still nervous playing up here," Sanchez said. "My heart is racing. My head is spinning. It feels like the game is going 1,000 mph. So, its nice to be able to get some big hits." The hit by the rookie reserve catcher scored Pedro Alvarez, who led off the inning with a walk, and was Sanchezs second winning hit of the week as he singled home the winning run in the 16th inning of Wednesday nights victory over the Chicago Cubs. "I cant let what happen in the seventh inning happen, especially in a close game, a rivalry game like this," Wainwright said. "I walked the leadoff man then left a ball out over the plate with two outs and Sanchez took a good swing at it. You cant do that." Tony Watson (1-0) retired all four batters he faced, striking out three, and ran his string of consecutive scoreless innings to 24, dating to last season. Jason Grilli pitched a scoreless ninth to convert his first save. St. Louis managed just three hits. Singed to a one-year, $5 million contract as a free agent in December, Volquez was sharp in his first start for the Pirates as he gave up one run and three hits in 5 2-3 innings with one walk and four strikeouts. That came after Volquez pitched two scoreless innings of relief Thursday against the Chicago Cubs. Volquezs 5.71 ERA last season with the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers was the highest among the 81 pitchers who qualified for the ERA title. He also allowed 15 runs in 13 innings in exhibition games this spring. Wainwright went seven innings and allowed two runs and five hits after pitching seven scoreless innings in his first start of the season at Cincinnati in Mondays opener. He struck out seven and walked two. The Pirates opened the scoring in the fourth inning when Andrew McCutchen doubled with one out and scored on Neil Walkers two-out double. An RBI triple by the Cardinals Jon Jay in the sixth tied the score at 1-1 and chased Volquez. NOTES: St. Louis CF Peter Bourjos, who is off to a 0-for-13 start with his new team, got the day off. Jay started in his place. The Cardinals acquired Bourjos from the Los Angeles Angels in an off-season trade. ... RHP Jameson Taillon, Pittsburghs top pitching prospect, will undergo Tommy John surgery by David Altcheck in New York and hell miss 12 to 18 months. ... The Cardinals play their home opener Monday against the Cincinnati Reds with RHP Michael Wacha (0-0, 0.00) facing LHP Tony Cingrani (0-0, 0.00). ... The Pirates are off Monday then open a three-game series Tuesday night at Chicago with RHP Charlie Morton (0-0, 0.00) pitching against Cubs RHP Edwin Jackson (0-0, 1.29). Authentic Nate Schmidt Jersey . SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. Authentic Ryan Carpenter Jersey . As the only competitor to try two quads, much less complete them, Kovtun ended the day nearly nine points ahead of Japans Tatsuki Machida, who opened with a clean quad but then stepped out of the triple toe loop that was the second jump in his combination. http://www.cheapgoldenknightsjerseysauthentic.com/?tag=authentic-curtis-mckenzie-jersey . The whole deflation of New England Patriots footballs is like a murder mystery without the violence or significance. On one side, this is a ridiculous issue.As communities and towns right across Canada gear up to celebrate our nations birthday on Monday, European footballs wheelers and dealers --check book and the de rigueur brown paper bag stuffed with cash at the ready -- are salivating at the thought the summer transfer window officially opening for business the very same day. In the run up to Monday clubs have been permitted to consummate deals with the proviso the buying and selling club hail from the same domestic league. Typically Real Madrid has been at the forefront of getting their bids in early. The wannabe 10-time Euro champs displayed their intentions and used their first-mover advantage to maximum effect earlier in the week with news the Madristocrats had locked up one of Spains prime young assets: former Malaga midfielder Francisco Alarcón Suárez. Better known under his one-name moniker, “Isco” gave the perfect account of himself when he was voted the tournaments Golden Boy as Spain retained the UEFA Under-21 Championships in Israel earlier this month. A lifetime Barcelona supporter, Isco is sure to go down well with the locals when he takes his dog for a stroll round the Madrid streets. The ex-Malaga mans dog is called Messi. Not too sure it will be wise to throw him a ball though. Next up in the Los Blancos sightlines are none other than Edinson Cavani, Luis Suarez and this summers most in-demand glamour boy, “My Left Foot” himself: Gareth Bale. If Perez is successful the total transfer outlay on these three musketeers - when combined with the 35m euro [$45m CAD] Real reportedly paid Malaga - would most certainly exceed a quarter of a billion dollars. Factor in the existing salaries of this mega Grade-A talent and Madrids total capital investment could exceed the half billion mark. Evidently, Florentino Perez hasnt read any of Michel Platinis memos on UEFAs Financial Fair Play model that comes into full effect this upcoming season. FFP is that utopian one-size-fits-all financial model which restricts and requires clubs across European football to spend what they earn that sounds great in theory. However, in practice FFP will allow the clubs who sign the blockbuster sponsorship deals and receive the greater proportion of broadcast revenues - domestically, continentally and globally - to pull further away from clubs towards the middle and bottom end of the European football food chain. Then factor in, say, the Emirates box office on match day compared to Anfields. The comparison is $5 million vs. $1.5 million and we havent even discussed the icing on the FFP cake; club merchandise. The abundance of Ronaldo, Messi and Rooney [who himself could be on the move this summer] shirts walking round Canadian and U.S. streets alone likely outnumbers the gross domestic merchandise product for the French Ligue 1 and Dutch Eredivisie combined. The rich will indeed get richer and continue to win most if not all the silverware. Just like in the real world itself, over the long run the wealth gap between the ‘haves and the ‘have-nots will widen. It could get to the point when – by time Europe next gets to host a World Cup Finals in 2018 - even Nik Wallenda himself would turn down opportunity to tightrope across such an exhaustible and unbridgeable gap. Just ask yourself why Manchester United CEO David Gill and Roman Abramovich have cuddled up to Platini. Something about protecting future earnings, anyone? Jurgen Klopp, who knows a thing or two (and certainly a lot more than any UEFA FFP Panel) used the platform of the UEFA Champions League Final to full effect when on the eve of thee final, Klopp voiced very legitimate fears that he saw a day the Bundesliga would mimic the Scottish Premier League. Authentic Paul Stastny Jersey. With Bayern playing the role of Celtic, UEFA Financial Fair Play must be the reason why the monopoly board was invented in the first place. Bayern, so optimistically influencing, spent their additional (very lucrative) Champions League broadcast revenue even before they earned it when in late April they captured the $45 million signature of Klopp prodigy Mario Götze. The threat of barring clubs from elite competitions will in time result in such demand for top notch club accountants and lawyers they themselves will likely have to hire player agents as they hold out for 150,000 euros-plus per week in tax free salaries like the players themselves. Surely this was the summer UEFA would have forecasted we would witness a dramatic downturn in spiraling transfer fees. When in reality we may well soon see Torres: Version 2.0. Take it back to late January 2011 and the cart-before-the-horse scenario where Liverpool, to save face pushed back Abramovichs opening salvo for their prime Spanish ace. Anfield requested Torres put in a transfer request as the storied English club demanded 50 million pieces of William and Kate silvers to cut ties with El Nino. Roman duly obliged back then. Now we have reports Liverpool will demand Suarez place a transfer request ahead of any such 50m pound move to Bernabeu. The transfer request is an important factor because placing one denies the player any percentage of his fee garnered at market. These percentages which - in this era of football doping, as Wenger describes it - tend to be negotiated with the player and his management team on an individual basis and can be as lofty as 15 per cent. Not a bad days work for a signature. And we thought there was a growing market for signed baseball cards. Frighteningly, just as the final whistle sounds in Sunday evenings mouth-watering Confederations Cup Final at the mythical Maracana it will also signal a mad dash to the airport as players the world over begin making their way back to their European football outposts. Yes, folks, in the coming two weeks right across the UEFA continent players who have not participated in any spring international tournaments begin reporting to training camp. Fitness levels will be checked as financial wherewithal reaches a new dimension. By the end of August when the window closes lets see how vast the EU aggregate spend is. With the prospect upon us that Bale, Cavani, Suarez, Lewandowski and Rooney could be joining the likes of Tevez, Isco, Fernandinho and Götze before them and running out next season in a different jersey than the one they threw into the crowd at the end of last season puts a whole new dimension on European club football finances. Now add in just for fun comments earlier this week from the Legendinho himself: Johan Cruyff. The Dutch Master suggested in a MARCA interview that with the $70m-plus Neymar now installed at the Camp Nou, the club Cruyff took to its very first European Cup in 1992, should take advantage of the rising market prices and sell the current face of the franchise: Lionel Messi. As he holidays in Milan, what price would the Argentine maverick command? The just-turned 26-year-old who we are yet to see the very best of? Told you it was fun. So many euros will be required by Sheik Mansour it will likely lead to a rise in the value of Europes beleaguered currency unit. Not sure this was in any UEFA FFP forecasts. You can reach and follow Noel Butler at: Noel.Butler@BellMedia.ca @TheSoccerNoel cheap falcons jerseys cheap ravens jerseys cheap bills jerseys cheap bears jerseys cheap bengals jerseys cheap cowboys jerseys cheap lions jerseys cheap texans jerseys cheap colts jerseys cheap jaguars jerseys cheap chiefs jerseys cheap rams jerseys cheap dolphins jerseys cheap vikings jerseys cheap saints jerseys cheap giants jerseys cheap jets jerseys cheap eagles jerseys cheap steelers jerseys cheap 49ers jerseys ' ' '